Has Anyone Ever...

[toothy26]

Booked a last minute cruise? I'm talking about 1-2 weeks in advance. Do you think the deal would be better or worse than booking earlier?

[packedandready]

Our first cruise was booked 2 weeks out as a "hot deal". That's why we tried cruising in the first place. The hot deal worked and we've been addicted ever since.

 

Whether or not you get a good deal at the last minute depends on how the ship is selling and if you need flights. If your time off is flexible and you don't care when you go it might be a good way to cruise (again, depending on if you will have to fly to the port).

[Sue L]

Depends on the ship is selling, low sales they lower the price to fill up the ship. Still selling well they price could go up.

 

 

I have done last minute bookings, 8 days before and I got a 5 day Canada in an ov for 245$ I have booked 14 months out and watched the price for up and down (never below what I paid) and had it end up 2 weeks before the cruise selling my same category d1 for 800$ per person more than I paid.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

With a last minute "hot deal" you may be quite limited as to choice of cabin, even the seating in the dinng room. Many of the best cabins will probably be gone. If you are not particular about the type of cabin, and the price is right, a "hot deal' could be a good bargain and a really fun last minute thing to do.

[Worn out mailman]

Booked a last minute cruise? I'm talking about 1-2 weeks in advance. Do you think the deal would be better or worse than booking earlier?

Hey toothy.:D

Last year I was forced to take an entire week off work just to have one particular day (a Saturday which I would have been forced to work) for my brothers commencment. So that I wouldn't be wasting the rest of the week, I decided to see if I could book a cruise (with only 5 days notice).Now, my situation is really non comparible since I cruised solo and paid the supplement. But, I got no break from the cruiseline for booking last minute, and to boot, because the AIRFARE to Lauderdale was so last minute, I got RAPED on that too. Having said all that, I had no regrets. I had a great time. Beware of the airfare.

[snausman]

I booked my last cruise as a happy hour special. That was 2 weeks before the cruise. Brilliance of the Sea's to the Panama Canal. Not alot of choices in the rooms, I think there was about 5 to choice from. But hey it was a great price. It was 1/2 the price of the cruise I had booked for Sept. to the Panama Canal. Then 4 days before sailing an aft cabin opened up. Grabbed it and had a wonderful time, and an awesome cabin.

 

Laura

[FIRELT5]

Booked a last minute cruise? I'm talking about 1-2 weeks in advance. Do you think the deal would be better or worse than booking earlier?

 

 

This Weeks happy Hour Special

 

 

http://www.creative.rccl.com/sales/happy_hour/HappyHour_rci_tues.pdf

[tommccabe]

In September, my girlfriend & I booked the Empress out of Philly to Bermua for 7 nights for $399/person (inside room). We booked it on Tuesday and sailed out on Saturday. Since we are within driving distance to Philadelphia, it worked out very well.

[Shazni]

Last year my husband and I booked the Southern Caribbean (Barbados route) out of San Juan about 9 days before it left. We got a Junior Suite on deck 9 which cost almost half of what our friends had paid for a balcony cabin on deck 7! Our preferred dining seating is second which we got no problem and we got some fantastic excursions also! I suppose there is a certain amount of risk involved but I just wanted to let you know that it can work out great! Good luck!!

[Hojo's redbeard]

I have booked three cruises within 3 weeks of sailiing, two of them within 2 weeks. I was never more than a two hour drive from the departure port, so there wasn't an airfare component. I was able to get awesome deals as the ship hadn't sold particularly well.

 

We have had a few times in the past couple of years to get onboard last minute with no luck. It seems that the cruise lines have gotten much better at balancing the supply and demand factors so that they don't have to dump any rooms like they used to. (Although I keep reading about RCL AOS and Carnival Destiny sailing from San Juan that sell last minute deals to the locals for pennies on the dollar.)

 

Another factor that will limit your ability to sail last minute is if there are more than 2 of you to a room. The Coast Guard has some magic number of cabins that are allowed to sail with 3 or 4 in it, we sail as 3 and haven't been able to get on ships before due to that.

 

If you can get on a cruise last minute, do it! I think the spontaneous cruises are a little more exciting because you haven't spent so much time building up expectations.

 

Happy Sailing!

[kbt2]

We did this last summmer on a whim...we booked a cruise and it was only 6 days out. I don't feel we got a great deal...it was a good price and we were happy with what we paid, but I would not say it was a super deal for last minute...but was really fun doing a spontaneous cruise and planning real quick to pack and get flights and such!! :)

[suet]

I just booked very very last minute. I booked the Splendour of the Seas transatlatic cruise on Friday, April 13 for its sailing on April 23. I got a great deal from RCCL including their air. It is so soon I almost can't stand the excitement.

 

Sue

[JanineM]

We booked 18 days out for one of our cruises. We thought we got a good price ...

 

For the following cruise we booked 3 months out and paid about 40% less than the "great deal" on our "last minute" cruise.

 

But our first cruise was during the height of spring break, and our second was the peak week of hurricane season. So it really does depend on how full the ship is, the season, etc.

 

The days when you could show up on the pier and get an incredible deal seem to be long gone - at least until occupancy rates fall a bit.

[rmillsaps]

Best deal I ever got:

Booked five days before the cruise, $1100.00 PP cruise and air, outside cabin and ended up flying first class Denver to San Juan and back.

Oh how I wish I could be so lucky again and again.

[rmillsaps]

That was 7 days by the way.

[toothy26]

Thanks everyone for the responses. We are a family of three so we will just have to wait and see.